Bringing Out the Beast
by Scotchie
Summary: Stranded in the forest can bring new meanings to life, purpose, and the human character. Can the OC manage to survive escaping from a Utopian world?


Prologue

Empty, but so full of life. The sun greets me in the best of ways, and then leaves in the coldest light. The tree's around me shudder and sway beneath the slight wind, and the careless whispers of the dead have slipped past and fallen on deaf ears. And so she says, "they will be back," but the years go on, and they never appeared. They run rampant through the foliage shoving it aside with brute force and crashing into the dead underbrush, scared by the past and running from the future. Forever alone in the darkest of days, and forever alive with memories.

The foliage became alive, sounds emitting around me in a cacophony of music, the life of the forest resenting itself. It calls to me as I stand watching it, birds singing as they raise their majestic wings to take flight, squirrels climbing down from the foliage, seeking their fill of nuts for their stomachs and their stash. Deer, the ever elusive creature of the forest peek around tree trunks, snorting and inhaling the forest air; sensing a foreign presence.

As I stare longingly at the forest, a whimper escapes my mouth, knowing in my heart that I belong here and not in the world of humanity. I begin to pace, scaring the wildlife around me, memories flooding the brain that inhabits my skull and gets me in trouble. Think with the brain, not the heart they say, but for every right I've done with my heart, a wrong has been replaced by my brain. The saying is common, but it does me no justice.

My feet begin to move in a direction, escaping the humanity I've grown up in, trekking to a world unknown to me, searching for answers and a place to inhabit. This time, I will be making my own decisions. Not by those around me, but ones I have decided to do, and damn it I will suffer for them as I've done every decision that's been made for me.

I knelt down, the wildlife quieting down to watch my every move, wary of this foreign presence in their safe environment. Here there lays a cave, a wide naturally built cave, the light of the forest camouflaging it in shadows. Here I will rest, curious and waiting for the right time, for the correct decision.

Sustenance as of this moment is of no importance, my body has adapted to eating little, berries scavenged and the few cases of meat that I have stolen from the families of the animals. In this, the protein I intake from murdering innocent animals have been offered a blessing, in respect to the lost individual. It is wrong to take with what you cannot replace. The symbiotic relationship of the forest reminds me of that. And so, I have survived this way for many moons, among the creatures of the forest that have become comfortable with my presence, no longer wary of the human that inhabits their living space.

The decision has come to me finally, as the rain begins, dripping and rampaging through the forests as if it were to decimate in its place. If I am to live with animals for the rest of my life, so be it. I would rather spend my time with their chatter; then I would spend it with the mechanical sounds of engines and the air whistling through spires of metal.

This forest has become my home, and the people of the city have stopped looking for me now, no longer caring or exhausting their resources for the time being. No longer do I hear the faint echoes of my name thrown through the forest, nor do I hear their clumsy feet crashing through the now living brush. I used to hide from their calls, scaling the closest branch like the squirrels that inhabit the trees and climbing even further as they look. Occasionally, I will taunt them, when they appeared that is, with calls of an owl; jumping from branch to branch as if my body had grown a tail to balance like that of a monkey. The men were the easier of the genders to be scared, flinching away from the predator owl as if it was fire.

Oh, they came, but they would never catch me. Not after what they have done to me, no. The forest is my home now, and the faux care of the city is not something I want to come back to. Their mechanical ways of society and taking what cannot be given back does not suit me. A symbiotic object shares, they do not _take take take_. As I scale the nearest branch, sharply looking at the surroundings with a critical eye, I scan the horizon for the next destination. Away from the society that has now erected a barrier, a thin nearly invisible dome. I do not know if it is man-made magically, or by thin spires of metal. I do not wish to know; because as each day passes, their world seems to be more mechanical.

As time passes, the city changes rapidly, quickly becoming mindless drones in a subtle mind-controlling. It was at the peak of peace before I left. With scattering thoughts, I jump down from my place, fingers gripping onto the branch to steady my landing. Feet planted on the ground, I take off, bouncing from root to root to stay silent.

My decision is to go father, explore away from this utopia the citizens of hell has created. Away from the mess, the controlled environment, the creatures that is no longer pure, but mutated to suit the benefits of the humanity that lives in this land of horror. The citizens have grown to inhabit mechanical limbs as an age right, as if it was a ritual that was sacred to their religion or that of their society. It disturbs me, as I often get close to the boundaries just to see what is happening.

Today, today is different. The animals are restless again, and I hear clumsy footsteps. I'm not sure what they're looking for - they should've given their search up for me by now – it has been ten moon cycles. Jumping from the branch that I currently sat on, I quickly landed on another one, having become adept at jumping or running along the tree branches to stay quiet.

Often when running along on the ground, the only way to keep silent is if you knew where each of the roots was located. To know that, you had to live and explore each tree in the forest. These hunters did not do this, nor have they spent as much time in the forest, I can tell. I approach them, noticing dogs attached to leashes. They were not what I was expecting, mechanically reinforced limbs, and even their eyes were replaced with mechanics. Oh those poor creatures.

I turned, quickly pouncing to another branch close by before shooting off to another one, my silent landings followed by the branches rustling gently. The dog's barked, catching the sound and raced to the first tree I jumped off, my eyes watching them for careful moments before jumping off again. I was not anxious to be caught, nor did I want to be brought back. It didn't matter if they were looking for me or not. I stopped after the tenth tree I skipped to, climbing higher up, here in the lower part of the canopy roughly twenty meters off the ground. They were still far off, dogs sniffing the air to catch a scent of me.

It is hard to catch the scent of a human that has lived in the forest for so long that she herself smells like the forest. It is truly difficult, for I know. I have become close friends with the animals that live in the forest, those that aren't violent and presumptuous. A line of communication exists between us, unspoken but understood. Not hard to understand, that is, as they think like humans but on a far baser level.

The dogs have managed to catch my scent and tug on the leashes, struggling to find me and this curious scent. Scatter-brained guards they were, as they pulled roughly on the leashes, the dogs whimpering from the pain around the humans caused. I was close to scoffing; irritated at the way they treated their helpers. Turning my back to them once more, I sprinted off to the next available branch knowing that I'd have to get down eventually. I was entering into dangerous territory. Eagles nested in this part of the forest and mating season had ended a cycle or two ago, meaning young were close to hatching or have already been hatched.

Before I got any closer to the nesting area, I descended into the lower branches, pressing tightly against a maple where the syrup rubbed over part of my arm. I have not replaced my clothes - they were still in good enough condition for the current season. Dropping even lower, I threw haste to the sound of my descent, allowing the dogs to hear me for the tiny window that I allowed and began sprinting along the interconnecting and weaving branches, my weight causing them to bow slightly into each other.

I smiled to myself, the adrenaline beginning to pump through my veins. Animals always gave me a good chase, it didn't matter what kind, their sense of smell twenty times what mine will ever be. I could hear their paws crashing and crunching the leaves beneath them, the bushes following not too far behind as they clawed their way through, eager to scent me out. I was not afraid yet, the bumbling idiots that followed them were much slower and more cumbersome, unaccustomed to climbing through underbrush, roots, and thorns.

My pace quickened even more, dashing through the lower branches with glee, happy to be amused at the society's expense. I giggled; the sound scratchy from misuse. They caught wind of it, following even quicker, their pace frantic as I continued ducking and weaving through each of the branches. The dogs were close enough for me to hear the joints clicking and grinding against each other as they ran, the mechanics clanking.

I reached a hidey-hole, the forest blending into the mountains and turning into rocky, cave laden hillsides. This is where I would lose them, the many kilometers between the city and the mountains would start to become more treacherous to those not used to traveling.

Carefully turning the dogs off my trail, I waited at the highest point of the canopy, watching them like a hawk to make sure their confusion was right. I have no need to be caught yet. I have plans to finish before I come back to the society and ruin their lives. I hope to change what they cannot. No longer will they take and not return. It has gone on far too long, ruining the lands around them with unnecessary waste and thinning the forests.


End file.
